No Broadway production for 'Iceman Cometh,' Goodman says

" Iceman Cometh" at the Goodman Theatre, with an ensemble cast led by Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy.

"The Iceman Cometh" is not going to Broadway, at least not during the upcoming season, the Goodman Theatre concluded Friday.

According to Roche Schulfer, the theater's executive director, various factors conspired against the much-discussed potential transfer, including the length of the show, the complexity and cost of its multiple sets (the last Broadway revival used only one set), the lack of availability of a sufficiently large Broadway theater this fall for a sufficient number of weeks, and other issues.

Producer Scott Rudin holds the Broadway rights but had declined to pursue the show himself and had been talking to other interested producers. On Friday, Rudin said he did not know of any movement on the show in terms of Broadway.

Further complicating the picture was Nathan Lane being offered a role on television's "The Good Wife" (interestingly, a show set in Chicago).

With no Broadway in the offing, Schulfer focused on the positives of the critically acclaimed Chicago production, which he said played to 100 percent capacity and some 42,000 people at the Goodman, many of whom flew in from other states and other countries. As Schulfer sees it, the production could be viewed as further evidence that such huge projects no longer need a New York imprimatur. "You could see this one," he said, "only in Chicago."

Still, Broadway is Broadway and hope springs eternal. The Goodman is keeping the sets.

The University of Illinois' rescinded job offer to a professor and a controversy over a faculty blog at Chicago State University helped land the two schools on a 2014 "worst of" list for student and faculty free speech rights.

Rep. Aaron Schock billed taxpayers at least three times for a total of more than $14,000 in private air travel last fall, including for a trip to a Chicago Bears football game, The Associated Press has learned.